A few days ago, I arrived in Colombia to spend time exploring locally based alternatives in education with the support of Schools Without Borders (thank you SWB!). I first came here five years ago, and fell in love with so much of the country - the people, their passion, the mountains, plains, and love for life (all amidst the complexity of conflict and transition).

This past weekend, I was grateful to be welcomed by one of my main connections here, Veronica Puech, a co-founder of Kalapa learning community, who I look forward to interviewing as part of this month's spotlight series.

In Suesca with Veronica Puech, co-founder of Kalapa

After a really nice day of catch ups with special characters in the city, we spent the weekend just north of Bogota in Suesca. The perfect setting to disconnect from our iPhones and reconnect with inspiring people (and the best cheese fondue!). Hosted by a couple working in design and educational architecture, and in the company of other educators, a business owner, and strong development perspectives, our conversations helped to frame the need for alternatives here in Colombia. To paint a broad picture of the complexity of issues here, I'll share some of what we discussed:

The pressure to focus on test scores vs. a real need to improve math and language learning outcomes- Colombia is working towards membership in the OECD; As part of its accession to the OECD, PISA test scores taken by 15 year old students (you can try sample test questions here), are considered. Colombia's results in the PISA tests were amongst the lowest of the 71 countries who participated in the last round of the tests, and there are large gender gaps. This increases pressure to focus on test scores (outcome) rather than the methods of teaching and learning (process leading to better outcomes!). - There is a real need to increase competency in math and language skills, especially in public schools but the challenge is in how to do this effectively.

A need for more "integral" education, and considerations for post-conflict settings- This topic really resonated with me, as I believe so strongly in the need for integral or more holistic education, that considers all aspects of personality (Intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual) in the development of learners.- A need for more creativity in learning as part of this integral education - Understanding that students in post-conflict areas or settings need special considerations and integrated programs catered to their needs

Challenge of (a lack of) political will and the (lack of) power of the Ministry of Education- Short terms in office, changing priorities, big bureaucracy make it difficult to implement change in the short or long term.- the Ministry of Education isn't very influential or powerful relative to other areas of government in Colombia.

"Status" of education over quality of learning- Parents' concern with the reputation and status of the school over the true quality of the learning that is happening; reputation of the school represents status for some parents, and it is difficult to shake this mindset.

Value of teachers and teaching as a profession- As in many other countries, teaching is not valued highly as a profession or career choice in Colombia, which results in not the most motivated or qualified people entering the field.- Moving towards more highly qualified and valued teachers (at the other end of this is the Finnish system for example) would help improve the quality of education.

All of this led to...:

The hope for solutions from smaller models!- The flexibility smaller models have to implement change and test different methods has potential in influencing the bigger system eventually- These smaller models need to show mastery of learning plus the ability to do this in an integral way in order to be adopted in other settings.

The perfect welcome - fantastic conversations on learning and life with this special group

I am grateful to all of my hosts this weekend, for the rich conversations and company!

I look forward to profiling some of the exciting work happening here in Colombia, starting with Kalapa in the coming week (..and hopefully improving my Spanish tambien :)) ​